In TV Land, most characters will freak over gaining a few pounds, and instantly pull out the carrots and celery. And those who are overweight will usually try to deny it. But not these guys. These are the few, the proud, the fat. They have no qualms about their size, and will complain when they lose weight. They may even try to gain more weight, although this is not seen as often. If female, this character is almost always a Big Beautiful Woman.

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime and Manga

Chouji from Naruto. Getting called "fat" is his Berserk Button, but he takes it really well when phrased any other waynote there's a specific derogatory term for "fat" ("debu") in the original Japanese that serves as his Berserk Button, but any of the more polite ways of calling attention to his weight (of which there are many, in that language) he takes in stride. Inconsistent translation in the various English versions have made it a little unclear what, exactly, sets him off.

Mugi from Pochamani is perfectly happy with her chubbier body and if other characters comment or insult about it, she never gets offended.

Comic Books

The Fat Slags comics are all about a pair of promiscuous, Fat and Proud women from the North of England. The almost-unrelated movie featured an impossibly rich media tycoon making BBWs the height of fashion, so that every woman in the Western world would either be Fat and Proud, or try to gain weight till they were.

Played with in an issue of Uncanny X-Men where Rachel Grey and Emma Frost have a fight in the Mental World. Rachel accuses Emma of being dependent on her looks and makes her fat and has her ridiculed by the other X-Men. This attempt to break her backfires as Emma expresses her confidence in her appearance and that Cyclops, her love interest at the time, would love her no matter what she looked liked.

Fan Works

Twig the Vault Dweller from Fallout: Nuka Break. Since his vault was funded by the Nuka Cola Corporation to test their vending machines, fatness became the social norm in Vault 10. Twig was bullied all his life for being the skinniest person in the vault (hence his nickname), and as such anyone outside the vault who tries to poke fun at his weight will suffer Insult Backfire, as he will just take it as a compliment.

Films

In The Little Mermaid,Ursula laments that she's "wasted away" over the years, rather than complaining about her less-than-skinny physique.

When one sees her grown into a giant near the end of the movie, Fridge Horror sinks in; perhaps the reason why she complains about "wasting away", despite her ample girth, is because giant!Ursula is closer to her original stature!

Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray is quite comfortable with her shape, gaining stardom on the local tv dance show and proudly becoming the spokesmodel for the plus-size clothing emporium.

Greedy Smurf in The Smurfs and The Smurfs 2 looks like he's happy putting on a few grams.note Unsurprisingly, he is voiced by Kenan Thompson, who was the live-action film version of Fat Albert. Of course, it's rare for a Smurf to be anything but proud of the trait he's named for.

Pitch Perfect has Fat Amy, who openly calls herself that so that "twig bitches" won't insult her behind her back.

There's one character from Chuck Palahniuk's novel Haunted 2005 who used to be chunky and happy, but made an effort to get in shape. Eventually she became super slim and sells an exercise tool, but feels stressed all the time, so much so that she holds onto a picture of herself from her bigger days just because seeing it makes her feel happier. (Until her future fiancé rips it up in front of her.)

Queen Sollace from the Lyonesse novels by Jack Vance. Large, blonde and very pale, she compares herself favourably with her gamine granddaughter, who "can never have a truly fashionable figure."

Being grossly overweight is actually a point of pride for Speck Great Ones in the Soldier Son trilogy, since they store magical power as fat.

It's mentioned in The Hunger Games that since the residents of District Twelve are always struggling against starvation, being able to put on some fat is a major status symbol.

Masha in Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures novels is an enormous woman who flaunts her status with her (lack of) clothes.

Barney:Look at me! Now look at you. A still-in-the-closet 80-year-old wouldn't be into that mess.

Marshall: Here's the thing, Barney. I'm snuggly. You're not. Who wouldn't want to snuggle up next to this business on a Sunday morning, wrapped in a comforter, and it's raining outside and there's muffins warming in the oven - I'm cuddly, bitch, deal with it!

And Lauren Zizes, it seems, although Puck singing "Fat-Bottomed Girls" to her seemed to hurt her feelings. (Oddly, she was charmed by his original song, "Big-Ass Heart.")

Lauren is definitely this, since she matter-of-factly states that her size is the result of a combination of the "shoddy Zizes thyroid" and a "love of chips", accepts payment for AV Club services (and bribes for dates) in sweets, and is both a state champion wrestler and former infant beauty pageant queen whose talent was "baby pull-ups".

On Just Shoot Me!, an old friend of Nina's shows up, having gained weight since her modeling days. However, it turns out she's fine with this, and is concerned about Nina for still being worried about her looks after all these years.

One could argue the show itself personifies this, but Will from Huge makes being proud of her fat a form of social rebellion, since the entire show takes place at a fat camp.

Corey and Chumlee in Pawn Stars make no bones about their equally large sizes. Chumlee especially, which draws concern for his health from Rick. Corey has since lost a considerable amount of weight, while Chumlee is still as fat as ever.

"Rockin' the Beer Gut" by Trailer Choir sings the praise of a woman with a beer gut.

Beth Ditto, lead singer of the queercore band Gossip.

Jamie Madrox of Twiztid is rather proud of his girth, to the point that he has even released a solo album called "Phatso". His weight, much like his partner Monoxide Child's chain smoking, has become one of his signature features.

I'm ultra grande like a Luchador,

Pullin' aerial maneuvers at three hundred pounds or more!

Referenced in "Beer Gut" by Da Yoopers, a polka singing praise to those with beer guts and asking them to "stand up if you can".

Country Music singer Kenny Price was known for his girth, which led to the nickname "Round Mound of Sound". He even put out an album called Heavyweight, although he slimmed down in his later years.

Arsenio Hall's Chunky A. persona on his Large And In Charge album, though the voice doing the rapping is that of Cameo.

Definitely a part of Megahn Trainor's "All About That Bass":

Yeah, it's pretty clear,

I ain't no size 2.

But I can shake it, shake it

Like I'm supposed to do.

'Cause I got that boom-boom that all the boys chase,

All the right junk in all the right places.

Mythology

Santa Claus. His preferred snack is well known to be cookies and milk set out by the fire (though he's not been known to turn down brandy, either...) His big size and appetite is an essential part of his image, of a piece with his jovial laugh and big white beard.

Tabletop Games

This trope gets a pretty nasty kick in the teeth from Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 in the (extremely rotund) form of the Chaos God Nurgle. His big draw is being the god of love and acceptance, whose worshipers are taught to love themselves and each other just the way they are, even if (or especially if) they're unhealthy and disgusting, because Nurgle is also, and more importantly, the god of decay and disease.

Theatre

At one point, Falstaff complains ("a little improbably," in the words of one critic) about having lost weight:

"Do I not bate? Do I not dwindle? Why, my skin hangs about me like an old lady's loose gown!"

Ellie◊ from Borderlands 2 is quite proud of her mammoth physique. She actually moved out to a lethal area known as The Dust, because her mother Moxxi (who ironically is the series' Ms. Fanservice) was harping her to lose weight.

The Pandaren from World of Warcraft. Apparently it's a cultural thing because, well, bears.

"Gotta store up some fat for the winter! .... I don't hibernate or nothing, I just like having it around." (male pandaren Joke)

In Super Dangan Ronpa 2, Togami is very proud of his size and passionate about eating. When Saionji attempts to give him an unflattering nickname based on his weight, he surprises everyone by accepting it, saying that it's appropriately descriptive.

National Lampoon's "Fat Guy Nation" series, complete with the theme song "All You Can Eat."

Western Animation

In one episode of Dragon Hunters, Jennyline, a BBW, goes with the eponymous hunters so she can cook a dragon immediately after they kill it. After the adventure, she tells them that she's never doing that again because it's "bad for her waistline" — she lost 20 pounds (not that she looks any different).

The Simpsons: Homer Simpson goes back and forth between this (for instance, the time he gained weight to go on workers' comp and proclaimed himself a "big fat dynamo") and I Am Big Boned.

In Family Guy, when Lois first started gaining weight in "Sibling Rivalry", Peter was upset but later began to really like it. So much so, that he tries fattening her up even more and even faster, which she is happy to do. When she had to have liposuction, he was found in the closet trying to have sex with her removed fat.

In "The Fat Guy Strangler", Peter establishes the NAAFP: The National Association For The Advancement of Fat People. The members? All of them were fatter than Peter.

Pam of Archer is definitely this: on top of being a Big Beautiful Woman, her preferred comeback for Cheryl's occasional digs at her weight is usually one about Cheryl being too SKINNY instead of a denial of her own weight.

Pam: (to Cheryl): Pipe down, pipe cleaner!

Real Life

The FAs, fetishists, and so on...

Comedienne Mo'Nique, herself a BBW, hosted the F. A. T. (Fabulous And Thick) Chance Beauty Pageant. Contestants had to be size 14 or higher to enter.

Comedian Gabriel Iglesias has built his stand-up career on this, particularly with the "Six Levels of Fatness." note It used to be 5, until a #6 came up to him after a show complaining that Gabriel wasn't selling any shirts in his size. Gabriel's response: "I didn't know they made you!"

Australian media personality and former rugby league player Daryl Brohman lives up to this trope - he is known almost universally as "The Big Marn", features in ad campaigns for big men's clothing, and has a well documented fondness of meat pies and chocolate.

Actor Sydney Greenstreet was built like the Queen Mary. It was clear he enjoyed life and good food and wine and didn't care who knew it. His distinctive appearance and voice (and that wonderfully evil laugh) have become iconic to the point that he was the model for Jabba the Hutt. By Gad, sir, you are a character, that you are!

Lee J. Cobb counts here, too, although he seems to have gotten in a few sit-ups. He plays a few scenes topless in Anna And The King Of Siam, showing that he looked damn good for an enormous person.

There were periods in Western society where being plumper was considered a very attractive feature (The Bible has a verse where the speaker considers herself ugly because she's thin, for example)-and still is, in some parts of the world. Being fat means you've got food to waste, which in turn indicates A) you're loaded, or B) you're a superb hunter.

The singer Adele is very outspoken about how she a) isn't ashamed of her weight and b) isn't trying to lose any. She just cares most about putting out good music, not so much what the media thinks of her figure.

Jack Black seems to openly embrace and flaunt his chubby physique, and is certainly not afraid to go shirtless in public.

TV Tropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy